Chapter 354: Chapter 353: Social Experiment

Wan Chong City.

In contrast to its name, the city doesn’t appear eerie or terrifying.

Instead, the bustling crowd and the clean, wide streets emit a vibrant earthy atmosphere.

Initially, it was just a marketplace at the entrance of the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects. Over time, as more people gathered, it gradually developed into a city.

The Valley of Ten Thousand Insects was pleased with this development.

After all, they were just cultivators, not true immortals, they couldn’t completely detach from the mundane world.

"Braised gold-edged water beetle, ready to eat after shelling, one bite and it’s oily!"

"Fire-roasted stuffed insect, big and fragrant!"

Before Lv Bai and Li Mu even stepped into the city, they could already hear various cries of vendors through the city gate.

Being backed by the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects, almost all the food sold on the streets was some kind of insect.

Although Lv Bai had no prejudice against eating insects, he wasn’t really appetized either.

Walking along the streets within the city, they noticed quite a few cultivators from the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects. Even when dealing with mortal vendors, they honestly paid for their purchases.

If not for knowing the real situation under the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects’ rule, seeing this bustling scene, one might really think the mortals here lived well.

But actually, the shops in this city can’t be opened by ordinary people.

Take any store selling roasted insect meat, it probably has connections to some Elder in the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects.

As for those shops selling Spiritual Insects, Magical Artifacts, or Elixir Pills, they definitely aren’t run by mortals. Ordinary people can’t even source the goods, let alone sell them.

"Smiling Lord, what are we doing here?" Li Mu finally couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.

"I haven’t told you before?"

Lv Bai casually replied, then explained, "I want to conduct a social experiment, and I plan to start with the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects."

To be honest, he had no particular opinion about the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects. It was just the closest place to him.

Lv Bai spread his Divine Sense, covering the entire Wan Chong City, and marked the cultivators inside who were in the Nascent Soul Stage or above.

There weren’t many cultivators of this level in the city.

After all, Nascent Soul Stage cultivators have a lifespan of over a thousand years, and even in the top Great Teachings, they are considered a mainstay.

"Social experiment?"

Li Mu looked confused, always feeling that this phrase seemed out of place in the world of cultivation.

"Come with me."

Lv Bai confirmed his target and walked straight to a luxuriously decorated building.

It was a shop selling Elixir Pills and Spiritual Insects, with a shop sign that faintly displayed floating palaces, shrouded in clouds and mist, truly magnificent.

From what he sensed, this shop belonged directly to the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects, without middlemen taking a cut.

The patrons inside had cultivation, and not all were from the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects.

To be precise, more than seventy percent were cultivators from other Immortal Sects and some Loose Cultivators.

The Spiritual Insects and Insect Medicine from the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects were quite useful when the cultivation level was low.

Moreover, they didn’t have much cost; the breeding was left to the mortals under their rule, the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects only needed to provide some larvae.

Relying on this income method, the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects was considered wealthy among Immortal Sects.

"Honored guests, what would you like to buy at our Immortal Gu Tower?"

Just as Lv Bai and Li Mu stepped inside the shop, a disciple from the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects warmly greeted them.

There was no choice, Lv Bai’s cultivation was too high, and Li Mu hadn’t even started on the path of cultivation yet, without any cultivation at all.

So this disciple responsible for welcoming guests couldn’t discern their level of cultivation.

Considering that ordinarily, no mortal would dare to tease them, his first reaction was naturally to assume that they were two big clients.

Lv Bai got straight to the point, "Can you take me to see the person in charge of your Immortal Gu Tower?"

Hearing this, the disciple hesitated for a moment and asked, "Honored guests, do you know Steward Lai?"

"I don’t know him." Lv Bai shook his head.

"Uh, that’s troubling then. May I ask what business the honored guest has with Steward Lai?"

"Nothing much, I just need him to notify your Valley Master that I have some matters to discuss that concern the life and death of your Valley of Ten Thousand Insects."

Lv Bai was being completely honest, yet it sounded ridiculous.

The disciple’s smile stiffened on his face, awkwardly cupping his hands, "I am not authorized to speak on this, may I ask which sect the honored guest belongs to?"

"I should count as a cultivator from the Cyan Hope Sect."

Lv Bai wasn’t in a hurry. In his perception, that Nascent Soul Stage cultivator from the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects was still upstairs.

"Pfft~"

Someone let out a dismissive snort.

All the people in the shop were cultivators, sharp-eared and clear-sighted.

Lv Bai hadn’t intentionally concealed the conversation, so even if they didn’t intend to eavesdrop, they had already heard most of it.

"Little Kuai, can’t you tell? This is a fool, thinking any random person can see the Valley Master of the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects?"

"The Cyan Hope Sect has offended so many Immortal Sects, they’re about to be destroyed, and now he’s talking about the life and death of the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects - haha, he probably has it backwards, right?"

The commotion drew the attention of many cultivators inside the shop, and several who weren’t aware of the previous context curiously asked around for information.

Little Kuai’s expression turned colder, but after all, it was a place of business, so he refrained from resorting to violence, "Fellow Daoists, perhaps you should leave voluntarily."

"No, wait..." A disciple who was arranging goods got a clear look at Lv Bai’s appearance and suddenly widened his eyes in disbelief.

A customer with a horrified expression quickly pulled on their companion, urging them to leave, "Let’s go, let’s go!"

"Isn’t that person dead?"

"Who, who died?"

"Lv Bai, Lv Bai of the Cyan Hope Sect, the strongest of the younger generation, capable of rivaling older cultivators." The disciple who was organizing the goods finally exclaimed, the voice sounding as if it was squeezed out from his throat, close to a low roar.

"What?! It’s him!"

Everyone in the shop was a cultivator; even if they hadn’t met Lv Bai, they had heard about the incidents at the latest Initial Dao Assembly.

Things like single-handedly killing over a hundred Divinity Transformation Stage cultivators or triggering an Immortal Ascension Thunder Tribulation - they couldn’t tell if the rumors were true or false, but they believed that under such great fame, he couldn’t be a nonentity, at least not someone they could ridicule lightly.

Little Kuai decisively pulled out a Sound Transmission Talisman to notify Steward Lai upstairs.

The next second, the roof of the Immortal Gu Tower was suddenly blasted open, and Steward Lai fled the scene as if for his life.

In the Immortal Sects, cultivators over the Nascent Soul Stage have the qualification to understand the truth of the Initial Dao Assembly.

Therefore, Steward Lai was well aware that if Lv Bai personally came, even if the Valley Master was called, he might not be an opponent.

Given his little arms and legs, it was better to run first.